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We are planning a trip to south afrika.

We would like to view some whales.

We will be travveling october this year. I believe a good time.

What are some excursions you could recommend? And what are the accomodations you could recommend.

Malgas, Knysna Plettenberg bay all is good!!

(We will be traveling witrh our 16 month old son so it should be admissable with him!)

Greetings from England
We were in South Africa during October 2006 and saw many whales. We are returning in September of this year.
Without doubt Hermanus offers superb viewing from the land. We stayed in the Windsor Hotel with a sea view and could see the whales from our room window. They come in very close to the shore there. There was at least 12 in the bay at one time.
We also saw them around Simons Town in False Bay on most days (we stayed there 10 days). Also at Simons Town we visited the penquins at Boulders beach and the baboons "visited town" a couple of times.
I am sure there are plenty of other places along the coast between Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.
Enjoy your trip. If I can help further please ask
Yours
JDW

When I retire somedays a shall sit and think other days I will just sit!!

Hi Harmless
I would suggest Plettenberg Bay. Sea conditions are very good, and whale & dolphin watching are exceptional. October might be little late for the Southern Right Whale. They tend to leave the shallows after the winter motnhs(May to September). There are two well known operators based in Plett. They have big boats, so your child would be fine. Sightings of up to 10 whales(Southern Right, in season) on one excursion are not uncommon. And the bonus of seeing dolphin, Great white Shark and Cape furr seals are also great.. And don't forget to visit Robberg nature reserve.

If you are in Cape Town, harmless, a day trip around the coast from Gordon's Bay to Hermanus and back should give you quite a few whale sightings.

Absolutely, and if you travel just slightly further to De Kelders, just before Gansbaai, you will have sightings like this. The whales are still around until the end of December, in fact these photos were taken early in January, from the rocks.

I like your location blurb Jenb and your cynical wit!

Hermanus is just the best for whale sightings. I saw my first whales ever there and they were really super sightings! The whales are all right there, just a few meters away.

I saw a spectacular jump, but of course just managed to capture a tail.



The Whale crier of Hermanus is something to see too. Hermanus is a great stop over between the Garden Route and Cape Parks!

Lovely photo Gwen!
Awe....I can see De Kelders across the bay!

BB....

We're wandering a little bit away from SANParks here..

What SANParks can you watch whales from?

I can think of:
- TMNP (Boulders, and various vantage points along the mountains)
- Addo (the bits on the sea)
- Wilderness
- West Coast NP

Anywhere else?

I maybe showing my limited SA knowledge but isn't Agulhas a SANPark? What's the spotting like from around there?

saraf, you're showing your excellent knowledge!

Agulhas is the smallest NP. The whale watching from Agulhas isn't especially good, because the point is quite flat and the sea is rough. But the whale watching in the area is excellent - I've seen wonderful whales from Arniston, which is near to Agulhas.

Tsitsikamma also

Just back from Storms River Camp in Tsitsikamma National Park and as far as I am concerned - no need to go to any where else to get good whale sightings

Over the past 4 days I lost count of the whale sightings we had. Both close to the rocks and far out to see. One was even in the bay of the river mouth.

What makes seeing a whale in this Park special is that no boats are allowed in the waters as it is a protected marine area so the whales are left in peace when they visit there.

DB so glad you and Hawk saw so many whales during your stay last week...PE this year seems to be very quiet on the whale front this year so far...but Rob saw one running to gym the other day right in close

I managed to get some close action to Whales etc but unfortunately not at SAN park location, it was off the Wild Coast, swan with Humpback and Bryde's whale and more dolphins than you can poke a stick at.

http://www.mattiovaska.com/layout/0001/ ... w.cfm?g=82